Zion National Park closes climbing cliffs to protect falcons

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Springdale • More than a dozen climbing routes on rocky cliffs in southern Utah's Zion National Park have been temporarily closed to help protect peregrine falcons.

U.S. Park Service officials closed the routes on Monday on cliffs where the endangered falcons have nested in the past.

Park officials say they'll reopen any of the sites that don't have nests by late April or early May. Sites that do have nests will be monitored until the chicks leave the nests, typically in late July.

The closures are based on nesting surveys collected since 2001.

The routes include Angels Landing, Cable Mountain, Mountain of the Sun, North Twin Brother, Tunnel Wall and other trails.